Delhi section of rapid rail line linking Meerut set to meet 2025 deadline

In Delhi, the link begins at Sarai Kale Khan where at least 70% civil work has been completed, officials said.

Work on the Delhi section of the Delhi-Meerut RapidX Regional Rail Transit System (RRTS) is progressing fast, and is expected to meet the deadline for the overall project, officials aware of the matter said on Sunday.

A RapidX train in on the priority section in Ghaziabad on Monday. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

In Delhi, the link begins at Sarai Kale Khan where at least 70% civil work has been completed. They added that work on four tunnels for the underground section, on both Delhi and UP side, was also on.

Sarai Kale Khan is one of the biggest stations along the total 82km route. The entire Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut line is expected to become operational by June 2025.

“At this station, 80% of slab casting for the concourse level, and 50% at the platform level has been completed. Cross-arm construction on the concourse level has also been completed. With this, the construction of the station’s roof will begin soon. With multimodal integration at its core, this 215-metre-long, 50-metre-wide, and 15-metre-high RapidX station is strategically planned and located near a Metro station, the Indian Railway’s Hazrat Nizamuddin station and Vir Haqiqat Rai ISBT,” said a spokesperson for the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC).

Work in progress at the Sarai Kale Khan station. (NCRTC)

According to officials, the station is also being designed to facilitate interoperability because it is the meeting point for all three priority corridors from Delhi to Panipat, Meerut and SNB-Alwar.

“Interoperability will allow commuters to travel from one corridor to another without having to change trains. Six platforms with four tracks are being built at Sarai Kale Khan station to facilitate this,” said the spokesperson.

The station is also getting a 280-metre-long foot overbridge (FOB) with six travellators to connect it to Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station. Columns have been cast for this purpose, and a contract for the installation of travellators has been awarded, officials said.

“Sarai Kale Khan is a prominent neighbourhood in the Capital with many well-established transit services, utilities and buildings. NCRTC faced a herculean task in shifting or modifying large-scale utilities that were impeding the construction of the corridor and the station. This is one of the largest and most complex shifting or modifications ever undertaken for the RRTS project,” the spokesperson added.

Officials aware of the matter said more than 80% of the pillars and the 4.5-km-long viaduct for the elevated section in Delhi had been completed. At least 14km of the 82km corridor is in Delhi, with the remaining 68km in Uttar Pradesh.

In the Delhi section, approximately nine kilometres are elevated and nine kilometres are underground, and Jungpura, Sarai Kale Khan, New Ashok Nagar and Anand Vihar four stations.

NCRTC intends to complete the corridor by 2025. Prior to that, it will put the 17-km-long priority section of the corridor between Sahaibabad and Duhai Depot in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, into service. According to officials, the priority section will become operational within a month.